Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, ICC World Cup 2019, India National Cricket Team
Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni (Credits: Twitter)

Former Indian great Sachin Tendulkar believes MS Dhoni‘s inputs to Virat Kohli will be crucial in the upcoming World Cup 2019. We have seen in the past that Dhoni has been a helping hand to Kohli and even helps in the captaincy decisions. Dhoni is also seen setting the field when Kohli takes his position in the outfield and he also passes on the useful information to the spinners.

MS Dhoni has all the experience under his belt and he is going to be a pivotal cog in India’s World Cup wheel. Dhoni is known to keep calm in tensed situations of the match which helps him in taking the right decisions. Furthermore, Dhoni had led the Indian team with aplomb under his leadership.

MS Dhoni, Zaheer Abbas
MS Dhoni. Credit: Getty Images

MS Dhoni is one of the shrewdest minds of the game.

Moreover, Dhoni is always two steps ahead of the opposition and he is regarded as the shrewdest minds to have embraced the game.

Sachin Tendulkar believes Dhoni’s insights from behind the stumps will be critical for the India National Cricket Team.

“Talking about Dhoni, his experience of standing behind the stumps are going to help because that is possibly the best view anyone could ask for. Standing there, he can see the entire ground just the way the batsman is seeing. And, his inputs would be critical because he will know how well the pitch is playing or how badly it is playing, whether the ball is stopping or it is coming onto the bat nicely. Whatever be the situation, he will share it with the captain as well as the bowler. So, having someone that experienced standing behind the stumps is always a bonus,” Sachin Tendulkar said while talking to IANS.

On the other hand, Virat Kohli didn’t have the best of the IPL while leading Royal Challengers Bangalore. Sachin Tendulkar stated that it is irrelevant to compare IPL with International Cricket. Kohli has a tremendous record as the skipper of the Indian team and he would like to lead from the front in the World Cup event.

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Not fair to compare IPL with International cricket – Sachin Tendulkar

“I think, first of all, let us not compare IPL and playing international cricket for India. I feel they are two different formats with one being a T20 format with a number of foreign players in your team and the other is a format where all your Indian colleagues are there in the team. So, let us not compare these two. Of course, when it comes to leadership, Virat is committed,” he pointed.

Meanwhile, India will be heavily dependent on the shoulders of their top three batsman – Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. The top three have done the lion share of the scoring. However, Sachin Tendulkar believes the team will need to come up with a collective team effort.

Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Kapil Dev, ICC World Cup 2019
Reuters.

Top three have done the bulk of the scoring.

“I don’t think so (reliance on the top three). I feel if we have to go forward in this tournament, yes, a couple of individuals here and there will have to step up. However, the rest of the team will also have to equally play around those players. So, it cannot be that just one individual keeps performing and you will progress in the tournament. Maybe a match or two one individual can go out and do something spectacular. But otherwise you need the rest of the teammates to chip in to move forward in the tournament,” he said.

India will begin their World Cup assignment against South Africa on 5th June at Southampton. The Men in Blue will play two warm-up matches against New Zealand and Bangladesh before their opener against the Proteas.

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